1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process control system for performing a process control of work comprising a plurality of processes, and a process control program storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, there is advanced a development of a process control system in which a computer system is used to control a plurality of regular works or irregular works. As the process control system, there are proposed various types of schemes. One of the various types of schemes, there is a process control system in which a work-flow representative of a plurality of processes in form of a diagram is displayed on a display screen of the computer system, and thereby permitting editing of the work flow and monitoring of a state of progress of the respective process on the display screen.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Gazette Hei. 9-22433 discloses a dynamic planning management apparatus and a dynamic planning management method each comprising work flow control means for performing editing or storage of work flow data specifying a work flow defined by an order relation among a plurality of processes having at least workers as attributes, said work flow control means grasping a state of progress of processes, individual work instruction means for performing a display of work instruction to a person in charge with respect to processes assigned in accordance with the work flow data and an alteration of processes by a person in charge, and planning data management means for collecting and displaying the most up-to-date work flow data with respect to the respective work flow and the associated work flow selected in accordance with planning data as to a dependent relation among the work flows and the like.
However, while this scheme proposes such a concept of work flow that a plurality of processes are represented on a visual basis, the work flow is simply representative of a state of progress of processes and work instructions to a person in charge. Thus, Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Gazette Hei. 9-22433 fails to disclose a process control system in which a computer is adopted so that a use fertile in flexibility can be expected.
For this reason, according to the process control system adopting the conventional work flow, in most cases, a work flow is displayed on a display screen of a computer, and there is a need that operation of starting applications associated with processes constituting the work flow is performed as unrelated operation to the work flow on the display screen. In some case, there is a process control system adopting such a scheme that an application is started and a hot holder is monitored, and a desired file is dropped into the hot holder. However, the process control system adopting the conventional work flow is low in operability and is far from practical.
In the Macintosh computer system, there exists a mechanism capable of automating a work flow by a programming language addressed by xe2x80x9cApple Scriptxe2x80x9d. In this case, there is a need to create logic for automation by the programming language beforehand, and thus, it is difficult to do over again definition of a work flow at the scene of a production control and to alter an order of processes. This involves a problem that operability at the scene is low.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a process control system adopting a work flow, which is high in operability and is capable of expecting a use fertile in flexibility, and a process control program storage medium.
To achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a process control system for controlling processes, comprising:
work flow display means for displaying on a screen a work flow in which a plurality of processes constituting a work is represented in form of a diagram,
wherein said work flow display means displays on the screen the work flow in which a plurality of process display units each represented by the diagram consisting of a process area representative of a process, an input area representative of a processing object in the process and an output area representative of a processing result in the process, is coupled over a plurality of stages in a sequence that a work is formed.
In the process control system according to the present invention as mentioned above, it is preferable that at least one process of a plurality of processes represented by a plurality of process display units constituting the work flow displayed on the screen is an automatic processing process in which a processing procedure according to the process is executed taking as a processing object a file in a processing object folder associated with the process, and processing procedure execution means for creating a file representative of a processing result is associated with a processing result folder associated with the process, and
said process control system further comprises first file transfer means for transferring a file represented by a desired one of file display units, each of which is a display unit representative of a file, to a processing object folder in which the file represented by the desired file display unit is associated with an automatic processing process on the work flow, in accordance with an operation in which the desired file display unit is associated with an input area of a process display unit representative of the automatic processing process.
In the process control system according to the present invention as mentioned above, it is preferable that said processing procedure execution means includes execution condition set up means for setting up conditions related to execution of the processing procedure when the processing procedure is executed.
In the process control system according to the present invention as mentioned above, it is preferable that said process control system further comprises second file transfer means for transferring a file formed on a processing result folder associated with a preceding process of an automatic processing process constituting the work to a processing object folder of a subsequent automatic processing process.
In process control system according to the present invention as mentioned above, it is preferable that said preceding process is also the automatic processing process, and said second file transfer means is arranged in such a manner that when a file representative of a processing result is created in a processing result folder associated with said preceding process by execution of the process procedure by the processing procedure execution means associated with the preceding process, the file is transferred to the processing object folder associated with the subsequent automatic processing process.
In the process control system according to the present invention as mentioned above, it is preferable that said second file transfer means transfers the file represented by a desired file display unit to the processing object folder associated with the subsequent automatic processing process in accordance with an operation for associating the desired file display unit with an output area of a process display unit representative of the preceding process, using a handler.
In the process control system according to the present invention as mentioned above, it is preferable that said work flow display means includes progress state display means for partially altering a display form of the work flow to display on the screen a state of progress of the work represented by the work flow.
To achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a process control program storage medium storing a process control program which causes a computer system to operate as a process control system for controlling processes, said process control system including work flow display means for displaying on a screen a work flow in which a plurality of processes constituting a work is represented in form of a diagram,
wherein said process control program has said work flow display means for displaying on the screen the work flow in which a plurality of process display units each represented by the diagram consisting of a process area representative of a process, an input area representative of a processing object in the process and an output area representative of a processing result in the process, is coupled over a plurality of stages in a sequence that a work is formed.
As mentioned above, a process control system according to the present invention is provided with work flow display means for displaying on the screen the work flow in which a plurality of process display units each represented by the diagram consisting of a process area representative of a process, an input area representative of a processing object in the process and an output area representative of a processing result in the process, is coupled over a plurality of stages in a sequence that a work is formed. This feature makes it possible to control processes in accordance with a complete automatic processing scheme, control flexible processes by a mouse operation and the like, and interpose the processing procedure by a manual operation. Thus, it is possible to implement a process control system capable of expecting a use fertile in flexibility.